JEN KNOX
the stories we tell matter
The stories we tell connect us or divide us. They can be revelatory or devisive, constructive or destructive. The stories we hear either explore the world with reverence or declare authority. The way we interpret the world can be derivative and easy or unique and powerful.
Once I found my voice on the page, storytelling changed the way I saw everything and opened up what I believed I could do with my short time here. I hope to share with others through both my storytelling and my work as an educator and coach.
It has taken courage and grit to find my voice, and I write about that in my forthcoming memoir At Work (2027, Cornerstone Press University of Wisconsin Sterling-Point). Other forthcoming writing explores an enigmatic and complex historical figure, Victoria C. Woodhull, in Radicals (2027, Library Tales Publishing/Simon & Schuster); my first novels were about women who found magic in response to the madness in their lives: We Arrive Uninvited (2023, Steel Toe Books Prose Winner) and Chaos Magic (2025, Kallisto Gaia Press), and I blend magic with environmental awareness in The Glass City (Press Americana Prize Winner).
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My aim is to help others practice the same curiosity and personal inquiry in all facets of life. After all, the way we tell and listen to human stories can reshape our reality.
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“Jen Knox is a fearless writer. She can describe a Toledo community decimated by apocalyptic drought, a bakery in Nice during a terrorist attack, a surreal museum of living statues, and make every one of these things feel as real and intimate as your favorite worn-in flannel shirt. Acutely alert to the smallest moments that reveal character, her stories can give you a whole life in a few short paragraphs, laid bare in all its sorrow, glory and restless longing. She can work dialogue, twist a plot, make you laugh out loud, and then break your heart.” —Sheila Black, author of Iron, Ardent
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Jen's holistic training and experience:
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MFA, Bennington College
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Credential in Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School
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Lecturer, The Ohio State University
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ICF-Certified Professional Coach
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Former Lecturer, San Antonio Community College
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Former Program Director, Gemini Ink
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200hr through Uplifted™ Yoga YTT
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Meditation instructor at Aura and Insight Timer
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Science of Well-Being Course at Yale University
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Jen works with a limited number of clients as a personal/professional coach. Email for details.​​
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Praise for “Disembodied” from AT WORK from Joni Tevis: “I was immersed in this essay from the very first line. 'Imagine a young woman,' the speaker invites the reader to do; I did. The dream of being someone 'degreed and respected, a woman people will listen to'; a woman with a house, yard, and 'sweet dog with an underbite' (yes!) was a dream that hit home with me. I wanted this for her, and when I saw her hurt in body and mind, leaning against the wall of a Goody Boy, I had to find out what had brought her there—and how she would move on from it... And this piece manages the impressive feat of both depending on the feeling of separation from the body, and putting the reader into the lived, grounded experience of this speaker. The essay earns its powerful conclusion: '…I see a young woman who bears down with the strength of a warrior, while her body rises.' The ground pushed back. I feel honored to have read your story. Thank you.”
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"A talented writer exhibiting her intuition, Knox understands that our greatest fear is loneliness … she gifts us with myriad ways to find a cure." —Tara Lynn Masih, author of How We Disappear